Racist, misogynistic practices and harassment: the London fire brigade is undermined by an independent report, behavior that its command recognized on Friday and now intends to deal with “zero tolerance”.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) commissioned this independent investigation last year following the suicide of a 21-year-old firefighter, who said he was harassed by colleagues because of his Caribbean origins.
Resulting in particular from more than 2,000 testimonies from former and current members of the brigade, this investigation reveals “institutional misogyny and racism”, said Nazir Afzal, former prosecutor and head of this investigation, which must be made public soon, on Twitter.
Among the excerpts quoted by British media are the examples of a Muslim firefighter whose colleagues put bacon and sausage in his coat pockets, of a woman whose helmet had been filled with urine, a other than male co-workers teased regarding his weight by imitating the sound of a truck backing up, or that of a black firefighter finding a rope with a noose on his locker.
“The report contains stories of shocking bad behavior and painful experiences that have taken place over the years”, in particular towards women, people from ethnic minorities and LGBT + people, reacted the LFB in a press release.
“There is no place for discrimination, harassment and bullying in the squad and from today it will be crystal clear to officers what behaviors are unacceptable and what the consequences will be,” he said. added LFB chief Andy Roe, who wants to “rebuild trust among his officers and with the communities we are here to serve”.
In accordance with the twenty recommendations of the report, he intends to put in place a “zero tolerance”, with immediate sanctions, better consideration of testimonies of possible bad behavior, the obligation for agents to wear cameras on when they travel to people’s homes, and training sessions to raise the awareness of brigade officials on these subjects.
London’s fire and rescue brigade is the largest in the country, with 5,000 firefighters, of whom less than 500 are women and just over 500 are from ethnic minorities, according to the report.
Last month, a report denounced him an “institutional” racism in the judicial system, reflected in the decisions rendered and in the absence of diversity within the justice professions.
This investigation targeting the LFB also recalls the scandal that had splashed the London police at the end of the 90s, with the publication in 1999 of a report which had also pointed to institutional racism within it.
